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VOLUME:114 No.138, JUNE 12, 2017

HO US E & 16 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

BUSINESS: LESLIE MILLER ‘CONFOUNDED’ BY DUTY CUTS

Davis: Payroll claims untrue

PAGES

Opposition leader You’ll believe slams Rolle ‘habit of false accusations’ a mud warrior

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net LEADER of the Official Opposition Philip “Brave” Davis said the Minnis administration has made “untrue” and “groundless” accusations about how much the government’s payroll increased in the final months of the Christie administration.

Minister of State for the Public Service with responsibility for National Insurance Brensil Rolle said in the House of Assembly last week that 6,500 new public service workers were employed under the former administration and that the government’s payroll increased by $10m in that administration’s final five months through

new employment.

Mr Rolle said the traditional process by which people are hired to the public service, one that ensured ministries proved that financial provisions existed within their budget for additional hires, was not adhered to by his predecessors whom he accused of establishing a system of hiring that ran parallel to that overseen by the Ministry of Public Service.

Mr Davis did not refute Mr Rolle’s claims using statistics or through specific explanations, however he declared that Mr Rolle’s statements flow from an administration that has “made a disturbing habit of making reckless and false accusations”.

THE government has filed notice of its intent to drop its appeal of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on parliamentary privilege alongside former Marathon MP and Cabinet minister Jerome Fitzgerald, accord-

MAN SHOT DEAD AS HE LEAVES CLUB

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are investigating another murder after a man was shot dead Saturday morning.

According to a police report, around 4am Saturday three men left a nightclub at a shopping complex on East Street South in a self-drive vehicle when occupants of a gold-coloured car pulled alongside them and fired several shots before speeding off. The men drove to the hospital where one of them died of his injuries and another was treated and discharged.

SEE PAGE THREE

$4.8M SEAWALL CONTRACT IS TERMINATED

can fly

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net IRAM Lewis, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works, announced that the contract for a $4.8m seawall project at Smith’s Point in Grand Bahama has been terminated due to serious project delays, among other points of concern for the ministry’s technical team.

However, he said, even though the contract was terminated, work will continue at the site.

Mr Lewis visited the site with a technical team from the Ministry of Works on Sunday. Senate President Katherine Smith and Minister of Youth Sports and Culture Michael Pintard were also present.

SEE PAGE SIX

SEE PAGE SIX

GOVT TO DROP APPEAL OF COURT’S PRIVILEGE RULING

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HOME

ing to attorney Fred Smith.

Mr Smith, QC, told The Tribune yesterday that a notice of discontinuance had already been filed, and a formal position was expected at a status hearing scheduled for June 26.

The move signals a reversal from the former SEE PAGE SIX

FORKLIFT RAID AT CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A PARTICIPANT in the Bahamian Mud Warrior mud run held on Saturday morning at Jaws Beach.

See page two for more photographs.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

‘SAVE THE BAYS HANDLING WILL BE TEST OF COMMITMENT TO TRANSPARENCY’

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY and former Progressive Liberal Party candidate Wayne Munroe yesterday suggest-

ed that the government’s handling of judicial matters involving environment group Save The Bays will be the first test of the new administration’s commitment to transparency.

The QC said the Free

National Movement’s transparency pledge necessitated a public disclosure of whether any Cabinet minister benefitted from contributions from the group, SEE PAGE 14

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A BREAK-IN at the Department of Customs’ warehouse near the Lynden Pindling International Airport involved suspects who drove a forklift through the walls of the building, causing significant damage to the structure.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean yesterday said “the incident is alleged to have occurred between (Saturday) evening and 8am (Sunday) morning”.

“The entire building was ransacked and at this time it SEE PAGE THREE

PAGE 2, Monday, June 12, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, June 12, 2017, PAGE 3

Man shot dead as he leaves club from page one The third man was not injured, police said.

This killing pushed the country’s murder count to 64 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

It also comes as the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) has sought to intensify its efforts to crack down on law-breaking behaviour.

In addition to increased road patrols in recent weeks, police conducted a “major operation” throughout New

Providence Saturday night that resulted in the arrest of 31 people and the confiscation of a handgun, ammunition and drugs.

National Security Minister Marvin Dames has said that increased visibility of police officers and patrols of crime hotspots are a part of the new administration’s short-term efforts to reduce the crime rate. Longer-term solutions will require an analysis of law enforcement institutions and the finetuning of them where necessary, he recently said.

“When we entered into

office a few weeks ago we started an aggressive plan of trying to assess where it is we are at,” he told the press last week.

“Just this morning (Wednesday) prior to going into Parliament I spent the morning with the commissioner and his crime team just having them share with me their strategy and how does that mesh with our policy of visibility, police enforcement and ensuring Bahamians in our communities are safe. We spent some time looking at the statistics for this year, look-

ing critically at where these incidents are occurring, time of day, day of week, and getting an understanding from the commissioner and his team as to their role in ensuring that we do more to reduce the level of crime.

“Everyone says it’s not a police responsibility, not totally a police responsibility, the reduction of crime. But our government now is looking at some of the current existing programmes and trying to see whether they are relevant and if they are not relevant

SURVIVOR TELLS OF LOSING HER ARM IN SHOCK ATTACK BY SHARK A NORTH Carolina woman who lost her arm during a shark attack while snorkeling in waters near Athol Island has credited her survival to the “Grace of God.” Tiffany Johnson, the mother of three, was on a seven-day cruise in The Bahamas with her husband when the shock attack occurred on Friday, June 2.

“I didn’t feel any pain, I just felt like I had run into something. I just casually turned to the right to see what I bumped into and I was face to face with a shark and he had my arm in his mouth,” Mrs Johnson told American news station WYFF. “I went to yank it (my arm) out of his mouth and that’s when he clamped down and we started to struggle.

“Immediately when I pulled it out, I just saw that I had lost my arm,” the 32-year-old mother said tearfully. “And it was just mangled.

“I had this determina-

tion like I cannot describe and I thought, ‘I’m not going to die here, this isn’t the end for me.’” She was about 15 to 30 feet away from the boat.

Mrs Johnson told the news station she was able to swim back to the boat using her left arm. Her husband, hearing her screams, swam out to meet her and help her get back to the boat and up the ladder.

The shark had torn from her elbow down to her hand. She said it wasn’t until she got to the ambulance that she felt pain and then it was excruciating.

In Nassau doctors performed initial surgery to try to save as much of her arm as possible. She and her husband were flown to West Virginia by Capt Meko Gibson, where she will be fitted with a prosthetic arm. Doctors predict that it will enable her to do everything that she will want to do.

Based on her description, US experts believe she was attacked by a Tiger shark.

POLICE investigating, above, after the ransacking of a Customs warehouse using a forklift that caused major damage, right.

FORKLIFT RAID AT CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE from page one

is unknown if anything was stolen,” he said.

Images of the ransacked building were circulated on social media yesterday, prompting shock and alarm.

In some parts, the sheetrock of the building was

torn into and the ceiling tiles were ripped apart and fell in as the forklift rummaged through.

Desk draws were left wide open and files were scattered on the floor along with garbage bins that were knocked over.

The police investigation continues.

31 SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN NEW PROVIDENCE AS POLICE HOLD ‘MAJOR OPERATION’ POLICE conducted a “major operation” throughout New Providence Saturday night that led to the arrest of 31 suspects, the seizure of a handgun, ammunition and a quantity of marijuana and cocaine.

Among those arrested was a 45-year-old man who was wanted for questioning in connection to the stabbing death of 55–year-old Valdrice Bowleg that occurred at her Peter Street home on Wednesday, June 7.

The suspect was arrested without incident in an area in Southern New Providence, police said.

Another significant arrest occurred when police searched a home in South Beach where they found a Smith & Wesson handgun with seven rounds of ammunition along with a quantity of marijuana.

Two women were taken into custody in connection with this seizure. Twentyeight other persons were taken into custody for

armed robbery, dangerous drugs, stealing, outstanding warrants and breach of the Immigration Act. Three nightclubs were closed down for breach of the Business and Liquor Licences Acts. Additionally, 205 drivers were ticketed for various traffic infractions.

The operation “is part of the force’s strategy to cut down on criminal activity by targeting problem locations and persons engaged in criminal activities such as, murder, armed robbery, rape, shootings, stolen vehicle, firearms, drugs and other criminal offences,” a press release from the Royal Bahamas Police Force noted.

• A man died and another is in hospital after a traffic accident last night.

Shortly before 8pm, a man was driving a 2007 Hyundai on West Bay Street with a passenger when he lost control and crashed into a tree.

The two were taken to hospital, where the male

passenger died of his injuries.

The driver is said to be in stable condition.

• An American man from Delaware is in custody assisting police with their investigation after an alleged sexual assault of an American woman on Paradise Island yesterday.

According to reports, shortly before 5am, a man allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in a hotel room at a resort on the island.

Police were notified and the American man was taken into custody.

• Police are searching for two male suspects responsible for an armed robbery that occurred on June 9.

According to police, shortly before 11pm a woman was standing in front of a fast food restaurant at Prince Charles Drive when two men armed with handguns approached and robbed her of her white 2003 Acura vehicle before speeding off. The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 919 or Crime Stoppers at 328TIPS.

we are looking at introducing some new programmes that can be relevant and maybe fine-tuning the existing programmes to ensure that they meet the needs of the people of this country.

“We have begun introducing some short-term measures that hopefully will begin reaping some positive results. Still, those long-term measures that will help bring the crime to a manageable place are important.”

Asked to elaborate on the short-term measures

being employed, Mr Dames stressed the importance of police visibility and patrol of crime hotspots.

“You will begin to see a change coming after my meetings,” he said. “We have some fixing to do in all of these (law enforcement) organisations. It won’t be overnight. We need to determine what is the establishment of all of these organisations.”

Anyone with information on this latest homicide is asked to call police at 919, 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS.

PAGE 4, Monday, June 12, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

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America awaits a president IT was an event like few others in recent history. Eagerly anticipated across the United States by millions, it was an occasion around which watch parties were planned, water cooler discussion was buzzing and cable TV news channels were enjoying ratings spikes.

It was not a sports event or entertainment awards show. It was former FBI Director James Comey’s long-awaited appearance last week to testify in open public session before the U.S. Senate’s Intelligence Committee.

Ever since Comey was fired by President Trump May 9 and another former FBI Director, Robert Mueller, was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as Special Prosecutor to investigate Russian tampering in the 2016 US Presidential election, Americans have wondered what Comey would say about his meetings with Donald Trump.

What he said, among other things, is that Trump is a liar. Comey confessed that he was uneasy about meeting privately with Trump, because he had come to distrust the president. He also admitted that he leaked some written accounts of his conversations with Trump to expedite the appointment of a Special Prosecutor.

Most politicians in Washington, keeping in mind that their own re-election prospects must govern their stance in controversial issues such as Trump, have been hedging their bets. Members of Trump’s own Republican party have largely hidden behind Mueller’s new investigation, but they are clearly aware of a growing sentiment among American voters that electing Trump may have been a mistake.

A notable exception to GOP dancing around the issue was House Speaker Paul Ryan, who offered the astounding justification that Trump was innocent in the ways of the federal government he heads and just didn’t understand the impropriety – or illegality – of ordering the FBI director to back away from an investigation which might threaten Trump’s presidency. And Ryan is far from the president’s most faithful ally on Capitol Hill.

Democrats have tried to look statesmanlike as many of them also duck and dodge around the issue.

But after a 20-year hiatus, the notion of a bill of impeachment in the House of Representatives has been dusted off.

People are remembering that the 25th amendment to the US Constitution pro-

vides for the removal of a sitting president.

Pundits and columnists, meanwhile, lick their chops. The much-reviled northeast establishment press, led by the New York Times, Washington Post and MSNBC, have relentlessly piled on the beleaguered president, with new scoops and embarrassing disclosures now a daily staple of the news cycle.

Even conservative and Republican leaning Fox News has struck back at some of Trump’s more outrageous tweets and statements, especially those critical of the main television networks.

Long-term veterans of the news business are called upon for their recollections of the end of the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1974, and Bill Clinton’s travails in 1998 are resurrected for the public.

It’s a tough time to be President Donald Trump.

Trump is clearly a man who relishes doing and saying just what he wants to say and do. This has been evident throughout his long run as a public figure in the US, whether as a real estate mogul, television star or politician.

Out of tradition and necessity, the American presidency is an institution that favours the circumspect in word and deed. The adjective “presidential” has become well established in the lexicon.

It means and implies behaviour above the political fracas that now consistently epitomises Washington.

Until Trump’s victory, presidential meant moderate and measured, so as not to send unintended or unwise signals to friends and foes around the world.

With potential nuclear war the ultimate penalty for careless words or actions, conventional wisdom obliged American presidents to act, well, presidential.

Trump’s supporters and critics have all been waiting for him to stop acting like a petulant adolescent and become presidential.

It hasn’t happened. And so long as the 35 per cent of American voters who constitute his base continue to indulge him in his unwise and inappropriate behaviour, there is little reason to suspect he will change.

With prospects for almost any significant achievements dwindling daily, Trump must be restless. The Mueller investigation will keep him on the defensive. Political allies will remain wary, and his foes will be emboldened. Success will likely elude him.

Gone with the wind EDITOR, The Tribune A POLITICAL defeat is like a messy divorce. The ‘blame game’ becomes quickly apparent once a petition for dissolution is filed and served or when political entities are deposed.

This is now the case here in our wonderful nation.

Eighteen months ago, I advised the leadership of my party, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), that our then leader, Perry Gladstone Christie, had become ‘the most hated man’, politically speaking, in the Bahamas. Very few of those therein wanted to accept that prognostication.

The rest, as they say, is history. In his elusive quest for ‘legacy’ the former Prime Minister, took his eyes, so to speak, off the ball.

The PLP sold the Bahamian people a ‘Bill of Goods’ back in 2012 reinforced by the catchy slogan: ‘We believe in Bahamians’. The strategy actually worked and we

were elected into governance. Almost immediately, however, many of our parliamentarians and cabinet members dropped the proverbial ball, big time.

Our marketing and messaging were terrible. We appeared to many, in my view, to be in hot pursuit of personal and business agendas.

The rest is now history ... we were literally wiped out on May 10, 2017.

The PLP will regroup under the leadership of Philip ‘Brave’ Davis (PLPCat Island, Rum Cay & San Salvador). Brave, like the new Prime Minister, Dr Hubert A Minnis (FNMKillarney), has personal challenges but, as the PM has vividly demonstrated, those, whatever they might be, need not be fatal to a successful climb to the top of the political totem pole.

We wanted to politely ‘retire’ our former leader but there was too much ego at play and too little concern, overall, for the political sus-

tainability of the party and the ‘Gold Rush’ Administration. Had we succeeded in deposing Brother Christie, we would have, I postulate, fared a whole lot better than we did on May 10. It is what it is, however, and the electorate, like the wind, has blown us away. The fabled movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ portrays it all.

Dr Minnis, the Prime Minister of all Bahamians, astounded me, personally, on his unwavering approach to attaining the government, along with an excellent team of new and old members of the Free National Movement (FNM).

They are to be congratulated and, where possible, all Bahamians must give them our support as we continue to build our wonderful nation.

To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE JR Nassau May 19, 2017

PLP hired guard for police station EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE Minister of State for Public Service and National Insurance Brensil Rolle revealed to the House during the budget debate that the PLP added 6,500 persons to the already bloated civil service between 2012-2017.

In the waning months of its tenure in office, the Christie regime increased the government payroll by $10m.

Forty-one persons on Acklins, which is a part of MICAL, were hired. According to Rolle, one of the hirees’ job description was to watch a police station as a security guard.

I am hearing that this took place in Acklins, which is a part of MICAL – an area once represented

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net

by V Alfred Gray, a former PLP Cabinet minister.

The fact that 41 persons were hired on Acklins alone underscores the high level of desperation within the PLP, which was tottering on the edge of a landslide election defeat.

The PLP was well aware that Gray was in deep trouble in his constituency, and was in grave danger of losing to the FNM’s Mariam Reckley-Emmanuel.

Gray fell out of favour with his constituents when he interfered with a judicial matter, and got off scot-free when Allyson Maynard-Gibson, former attorney general, refused

to reprimand her PLP colleague.

In my opinion, the PLP operated above the law.

But seriously folks, whoever heard of an unarmed security officer watching a police station with armed officers?

That makes as much sense as hiring security guards to police the violent, crime-infested Over the Hill communities at night.

To the PLP regarding this odd and hilarious hiring, the Whistleblower will simply say GTHOH, which is an internet slang acronym for “get the hell out of here”. The Bahamian people said as much on May 10.

THE WHISTLEBLOWER Nassau, June 11, 2017.

People voted against PLP EDITOR, The Tribune

THE leader, members and supporters of the Free National Movement should enjoy the resounding victory they achieved at the polls on May 10, 2017. However, they ought not allow themselves to become intoxicated or deluded by this win.

The FNM won because the Bahamian people voted against the PLP, not for the quality of their leader, candidates or manifesto. As a result, they have been given a mandate by the Bahamian people. Should they fail to deliver, they may find themselves just as unceremoniously discharged from their duties as this last crew of PLPs were.

As a result, I would like to suggest that the new Prime Minister consider

doing several things very early in his term: firstly, he should ensure that term limits are set to two consecutive or non-consecutive terms for him and future Prime Ministers. This must be done before he gets a real taste of power.

The history of past political leaders shows clearly that power is very intoxicating indeed.

Next, he must ensure that he does not borrow funds from any foreign entities and should instead consider using revenues generated from VAT, if needed, until the country’s economic situation is better understood.

The use of VAT-generated funds for other obligations should be limited to less than six months. After that time, VAT collected funds should be taken out of the Consolidated Fund and

collected solely for the purpose for which it was initially instated, the reduction of the national debt.

Lastly, we must find a way to reintroduce the importance of the traditional family. No economic, educational or health related successes can be properly enjoyed or social stability attained if we continue to have a proliferation of single parent homes and the social ills they cause. The mindset of our people in this regard must be changed through education and social pressure.

If these three things can be done, the Bahamas will be far better off, in spite of the other challenges that lie ahead.

JB Nassau, May 11, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, June 12, 2017, PAGE 5

EMAILS SHOW FYRE FESTIVAL ORGANISERS KNEW OF CHALLENGES

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

EMAILS leaked to US media purport to show that Fyre Festival organisers were aware of critical logistical challenges more than three weeks from the event’s chaotic cancellation.

Meanwhile, Bahamian vendors and workers remain in the dark over what action, if any, the govern-

ment will take to recoup losses.

The Tribune has received anecdotal reports from Exuma residents that several containers being held by the Department of Customs for nonpayment in connection with the festival had been released on Friday.

However, officials contacted yesterday could not confirm whether containers had been released or if payment had been made.

Yesterday, Godfrey Gray Sr, an Exuma contractor allegedly owed around $70,000 from Fyre Festival organisers said the blanket of silence over the matter has not lifted.

Mr Gray is among scores of business, homeowners and workers reportedly owed thousands of dollars in the wake of the disastrous festival that was planned for two weekends over April 28 to May 7.

According to emails obtained by Mic.com, Fyre executives flagged issues related to insufficient bathrooms and showering facilities, and the withdrawal of the event’s main caterer, Starr Catering Group.

The emails purport to show executives discussing the inevitable shortfall in accommodations by more than 500 persons.

US organisers Billy

McFarland, rapper Ja Rule and Fyre Media Inc are facing multi-million dollar lawsuits over the event, which had ticket packages ranging from $1,200 to over $100,000 and promises of five-star dining and luxury accommodations with headline performers including Blink-182, Migos and Major Lazer.

The Department of Labour has launched an inves-

tigation into the infamous Fyre Festival debacle, having received “numerous complaints” from Bahamian vendors and workers who have not been paid.

According to Labour Director Robert Farquharson, the Department of Labour’s Exuma office last month received numerous complaints from Bahamians who had been employed at the ill-fated Exumabased festival.

Hunt is on for murder suspects SENIOR police on Friday warned the country’s criminal element that there was a “short time” to turn themselves into police custody, as officers pledged to immediately take a “zero tolerance approach” towards crime and its perpetrators.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean, during a press conference at Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) headquarters, said the law enforcement agency will be “turning up the heat on” criminals.

Senior ACP Dean also said those harbouring criminals “have no excuse” for doing so. He said that the RBPF will “lock up everybody” in any household in which criminals are found.

He also warned parents to keep tabs on their children’s activities and associates, asserting that police “don’t want nobody crying about ‘my good child’” when those persons are arrested.

On Friday, police appealed for eight men, who they want to question in connection with murder investigations, to come forward. One of those men was arrested on the weekend.

The remaining men are Dwight “Kitty” Morrison, 32; Patrick Goffee, 33; Julio Edwin Deveaux, 18; Alfred George, 28; Jermaine Scott,

TICO ‘PITBULL’ LIGHTBOURNE

JULIO EDWIN DEVEAUX

GIBSON BAPTISTE

DWIGHT ‘KITTY’ MORRISON

ALFRED GEORGE

JERMAINE SCOTT

30; Gibson Baptiste, 25; and Tico “Pitbull” Lightbourne, 31.

Senior ACP Dean said police know the whereabouts of these men, adding that it’s “only a matter of time before we bring you into custody.”

“But, you know, we’re giving you the opportunity now,” he said. “Should you

hear this, you only have a short time to surrender and turn yourself into custody.

And so shortly after the newscast, the police phones should be ringing to say ‘come and get me’.

“We need to find you, we will find you. We have proven in the past that after we put these (wanted posters) out, we will find these

persons. So we will find you wherever you are in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. And if you have left the commonwealth of The Bahamas we will find you because our tentacles are very far.

“So you can’t escape the arms of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.”

Senior ACP Dean also

extended his advice to the relatives and/or associates of wanted suspects.

“The Bahamian people are at a crossroad,” he said.

“They’re just tired. Murderers, criminals running up and down the streets like nothing happening, like it’s normal business. It can’t be business as usual.

“So we are turning up the heat on criminals on the road. So we say to parents, you have your children, know where your children are. Know the friends of your children, who they’re going to be involved with.

Because we don’t want nobody crying about my good child when these persons are arrested. Know what exists in your house. If there’s guns and drugs in your house, call the police.

“It’s a criminal offence to harbour a criminal, to have them in your custody.”

He also said: “We gone lock up everybody, everybody gone be arrested. And I can tell you when that fellow is going to court, or woman is going to court, everybody, you and them will be together on that same day appearing in court. So that’s the zero tolerance approach that we’re taking.”

ACP Clayton Fernander, also present at Friday’s press conference, appealed to members of the public to continue to assist police

in their attempts to capture wanted criminals. “…We are pleading to members of the public, to please, as usual, assist,” he said. “You have officers on the ground on a daily basis who are checking their homes, checking relatives, and we know that they’re out there, because based on our intelligence they’re just moving about.

“Once these persons are able to come into custody we will be able to advance a number of serious matters with respect to these individuals.”

He added: “In the coming days, weeks months we will turn up the heat. You will see us as usual out there, and we’re going to try, and we will, limit that fear of crime with members of the public. And how we’re going to do that? Ensure consistent visibility within the communities.

Response time to members of the public’s complaints…we’re going to be responding in a reasonable time. “…We believe if we are consistent with visibility, arresting individuals, reaching out to members of the public with respect to their complaints, feedback and response time, we will eliminate the fear of crime.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 919 or Crime Stoppers at 328TIPS.

Career Opportunity Scotiabank (Bahamas) Limited is seeking the services of an Audit Manager, SBL-Managing Director’s Office Position Summary: • • •

The incumbent must evaluate the design and operational effectiveness of internal controls for assigned bank sections/projects/processes/units of low to medium complexity processes and operations.

The incumbent must act primarily as Team Participant or in some cases act as Officer in Charge on assignments of low to medium complexity.

Job requires oversees travel for the incumbent to participate on projects across the Caribbean region.

Key Accountabilities for this role: • • • • •

• •

Manage the planning of audits or assigned areas of low to medium complexity.

Develop a thorough understanding of the business, risks and processes for assigned projects.

Develop and/or update Detailed Audit Programs (DAPs) as required.

Evaluate the adequacy of system design and internal control framework in meeting business, operational and control objectives.

Identify and assess materiality of control weaknesses ensuring facts are gathered and their full meaning is understood for low to medium complex projects as a participant or Officer in Charge.

Prepare audit findings, which clearly report the extent, cost and risk of errors.

Review, edit and summarize issues in a draft audit report for review by the assignment supervisor / chief Auditor on a timely basis.

Educational Requirements: •

Bachelor’s Degree (Accounting, Finance), CPA or other professional designation

Functional Competencies: • • • • • • •

Thorough knowledge of audit processes and methodologies.

Working ability to write clear, concise audit reports as well as internal and external communication.

Working knowledge of MS Word, Excel and audit software tools.

Excellent presentation, communication and relationship building skills.

Second language skill (i.e. Spanish/French) is preferred.

International audit exposure a plus.

Must be mobile.

Qualified candidates should submit C.V. via email to: The Human Resources Dept., Scotiabank: hrbahamas@scotiabank.com on or before June 9th, 2017.

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PAGE 6, Monday, June 12, 2017

DAVIS: PAYROLL CLAIMS UNTRUE

from page one He is expected to answer to the allegations with more depth during his contribution to the budget debate in Parliament. “(The government is) seemingly intent on functioning as though they remain in opposition,” he said in a statement sent to The Tribune. “While it has been unpleasant and undignified for them to so regularly mislead the public, in government such behaviour is not to be taken lightly and can carry serious consequences. (Mr Rolle) has sought to suggest that there have been irregularities in the hiring of public servants, and has been quoted giving groundless, unsubstantiated numbers as to how much the salaries budget has increased during the last PLP administration. He has no foundation for his claims and must behave more responsibly and maturely.

“The member’s comments are wholly untrue, both in their general assertions of fact, and in the ridiculous estimate of figures. He ought only present factual information to the Bahamian people, not his creative reality.

“We know that this administration has come into office with no vision, no plan and no policies. We understand that their chief skill lies in dishing out unknowns and untruths against the Progressive Liberal Party.

They have satisfied a desire for change amongst the Bahamian people; there is no excuse now for unnecessary reaching. They need only be about the people’s business. We invite them to take a more dignified approach to governance, otherwise the Bahamian people will see much sooner than five years, the hollowness of their words, and the emptiness of their promises.”

The budget debate continues today.

THE TRIBUNE

GOVT TO DROP APPEAL OF COURT’S PRIVILEGE RULING

from page one

administration’s position, which previously argued that Mr Fitzgerald’s statements in Parliament were protected from legal liability by way of constitutional provision, parliamentary privilege, and also legislatively under the Powers and Privileges Act. It is also unclear whether costs ordered by the court will be paid by the Public Treasury or by Mr Fitzgerald privately.

Justice Charles ruled that Mr Fitzgerald could not be protected by parliamentary privilege, and ordered him to pay $150,000 in damages for the breach – a decision the former Marathon MP contended was made in error because he was

“at all times acting in the public interest.”

“Save The Bays and Mr (Louis) Bacon sued the executive branch of government, the state, so this is obviously going to be an issue for Fitzgerald as he has personally appealed the matter,” said Mr Smith.

“Our case was against the state of the Bahamas for allowing its ministers to illegally or unconstitutionally access our emails, so the government has in fact filed a notice of discontinuance of that appeal. They will have to (formally take) the position in court on the 26th of June.

“There will be issues of whether or not Fitzgerald is going to personally continue his appeal and whether he is going to pay the $150,000 personally. They (the government) can’t take contradictory positions as

far as we’re concerned, Mr Fitzgerald was acting as a member of the executive and that’s our whole case so it’s the state that owes it.”

Attempts to reach Mr Fitzgerald and Attorney General Carl Bethel were unsuccessful up to press time.

At a hearing last month, Crown counsel Loren Klein asked Court of Appeal Justices Dame Anita Allen, Jon Isaacs and Stella CraneScott for a 30-day adjournment to allow the incoming attorney general to be briefed on the conduct of the proceedings thus far and for instructions to be taken.

Wayne Munroe, QC, who was also present for the hearing, said his presence there was concerning the interests of the speaker of the House of Assembly in which the issue of parliamentary privilege arose.

Yesterday, Mr Munroe said: “Curiously with that one, if they discontinue that appeal it would be curiously in the interest of the opposition. We would have a judgment that we could get court orders for Cabinet ministers for what they say in the House.”

In August last year, then Free National Movement Deputy Leader K Peter Turnquest expressed support for the court ruling that Mr Fitzgerald could not be protected by parliamentary privilege when he tabled the personal emails of members of Save the Bays.

Mr Turnquest, now deputy prime minister, noted last year that while the court may not have jurisdiction in the matter, he believes that Parliament must do a better job at policing itself.

$4.8M SEAWALL CONTRACT IS TERMINATED from page one

The contractor, Smith’s Construction, has failed to meet two completion deadlines – in January 2017 and a second revised date of May 17.

To date only 35 per cent of the work has been completed, leaving the community vulnerable to tidal surge.

Mr Lewis said officials plan to hold a town meeting with the residents of Smith’s Point to inform them of the situation surrounding the project.

“Right now, we are in the hurricane season, and the entire community is exposed, and we have to take remedial action to ensure that the community is protected from tidal surge,” he said.

“What we found out about the materials and the method of construction were enough grounds to terminate the contract. We want residents to know that even though the contract is terminated the work has not stopped and is ongoing.”

Smith’s Construction was awarded the contract under the former Christie admin-

PARLIAMENTARY secretary Iram Lewis visit Smith Point Sea Wall. istration on June 24, 2016 with a 26-week construction schedule.

Mr Lewis said consideration was given following Hurricane Matthew last October and the Christmas break and an adjustment was made to the actual commencement of the project.

“It should have started before the hurricane, but it started in January. And a revised schedule was submitted advising that construction would be complet-

ed by May 17,” he said.

It had previously been reported by Bahamas Information Services that work on the seawall started last August, but was hampered

by Hurricane Matthew.

In addition to grave concerns over delays, Mr Lewis said inspectors had concerns about the materials and method of construction used in the project.

He explained that the concrete and method used were not certified by the testing lab and did not meet the required specifications.

“Notice was given to the contractor, and it happened on several occasions where it was not done in a timely manner,” he said.

Mr Lewis said that while Smith’s Construction is no longer the contractor, there are several other companies they are looking at to complete the work.

Toni Hudson Bannister, an official with the Ministry of Works, said there were numerous challenges concerning the slow progres-

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn/BIS sion of work.

“The methodology of getting the actual concrete into foundation was somewhat antiquated, and we never progressed from that methodology, and so work progressed very slowly,” she said.

“There were also multiple challenges with equipment failure on site, and there were problems regarding the placement of concrete in a timely manner, and we experienced some cold joints in some areas. We also had safety issues which we had to walk the contractor through daily,” she said.

Mrs Bannister said there is a lot of road shearing and coastal erosion due to tidal surge two weeks ago.

“A lot of sand has spilled into the active construction site, as well as fallen debris from the road. We need to take another route at this time, and we thank Smith’s Construction for work they have done, despite the challenges incurred,” she said.

Marcel Wilson, a resident of Smith Point, was upset

about the termination of the contract.

“This is a drastic mistake,” he said. “There is no way I am in approval of this project being stopped. This is my community, and it is ludicrous to come and stop this project at this stage,” he said.

“I was here, and I watched the challenges the company went through with doing this seawall. And any company that would have been out here would have been faced with same problems,” he said.

Mr Wilson was also concerned about the safety of the children in the area and the huge open trenches filled with water.

“There is no security out here. You need 24-hour security in this community. If one of these kids fall in the trench with this thing being stopped and hurricane season is upon us, someone will have to give an account for why this project is being stopped. We cannot afford a day this seawall not being worked on,” he said.

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017

THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS

A financial lesson from Jamaica D

ESPITE the reputation — exaggerated — of its major city as a centre of slums, drugs and homicides, Jamaica enjoys a capital market that may well be eating our lunch. John Issa, prominent Jamaican businessman who often visits Nassau as owner of SuperClubs Breezes, recently told me of new developments and e-mailed me the Kingston Gleaner of June 2.

That journal reported that the Jamaican Stock Exchange (JSE) is planning to list 22 new companies this year, worth an estimated J$22 billion (that’s about US$170m). They will be listed on JSE’s Junior Market, created in 2009 for smaller enterprises not large or mature enough for trading on the Senior Market. These 22 new companies will be added to the 30 already listed. This news came as an announcement from JSE general manager Marlene Street-Forest.

The executives of our Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) have for nearly ten years been hinting at plans to set up a secondary market for young or start-up companies.

To date, the result has been all discussion with no action. Even the publicised efforts of our Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) to improve access to capital for small and medium-sized companies have not led to any visible action by BISX.

The Bahamas can learn some lessons from Jamaica when it comes to the capital markets.

Richard Coulson looks at the activity on the Jamaican Stock Exchange and compares it ot the Bahamas International Securities Exchange.

Its long-time CEO Keith Davies attended the March conference sponsored by our Securities Commission to publicise the new regulations enabling “crowdfunding” as a form of raising capital. Again, there has been no response from BISX to create the required “platform” intermediary.

Our existing capital market, represented by listing and trading of corporate equities on BISX, falls far behind our neighbours in Jamaica.

On June 2, shares of 26 companies changed hands on the JSE Senior Market, with a total value of over J$94m (about USD$723,000). It’s a lucky day if as many as five or six companies trade on BISX, valued at possibly B$100,000, and days with zero trading are common.

Jamaica has a larger domestic economy than our own, but that is not the whole explanation for the contrast. Only 20 companies have listed their ordinary shares here, and several of them are more dead than alive, with rare trading and virtually zero liquid-

ity. The last two IPOs (initial public offerings) were launched in 2011 and 2012.

We remain distant from US or UK practice, where controlling shareholders often partially sell out to provide finance for new ventures.

The continuing feebleness of our capital markets cannot be blamed solely on BISX. It stems from deepseated cultural factors.

Much of our wealth is still held by dynasties whose founders, to their credit, built successful businesses and now are reluctant to let shares escape family control.

Fortunately, we are on the cusp of a period when this reluctance can be mitigated.

First, a new generation of politicians has come forward who appear to put much greater trust in the private sector than their predecessors; second, we are enjoying fruits of the digital revolution, where the internet and all its trappings can spread information with speed and coverage never before seen, bringing education, awareness and

financial flexibility to previ- greater rights to minority ously primitive societies. shareholders, enforceable In 20 years, we can con- with simple procedures at fidently predict, our so- reasonable cost. called “inner city” commu5) Restructure statenities, backward even now, owned enterprises like will bear little resemblance ZNS for sale to private parto the present, and nor will ties with proven experience. their inhabitants.

Arawak Port has done well; In this new atmosphere, so could others. our government need not 6) Encourage major fortake any steps by formal fiat eign-owned businesses to to compel companies and offer stakes to the Bahatheir owners to “go public.” mian public — ScotiaBank, But it can adopt measures RBC, Bahamas Food Serthat can make public own- vices. Many incentives are ership an attractive corpo- available to spur such acrate policy and encourage tion. its use.

7) Take an active role in These could include: overseeing BISX, in which 1) For any company mak- it owns by far the largest ing a public ofstake of any of fering regulated The continuing the 45 shareby our Securities feebleness of holders.

This Commission, would include grant a two-year our capital a reorganisaexemption from markets cannot tion of the presBusiness Li- be blamed ently somnolent cence Fees. board of direc2) Amend solely on BISX. tors to be transour exchange It stems from parent in all its control regula- deep-seated actions, and retions so that in quire the BISX any public of- cultural factors. company itself fering foreign to be listed on investors could automati- the exchange subject to all cally buy up to, say, 33 per the governance and disclocent of the issue without sure rules. requiring the present tediIn addition to these speous Central Bank approval cific “change orders” to process. our economy, government 3) Enact, at long last, ef- could initiate a long-term fective pension legislation public relations campaign that would encourage com- to convince our corporate panies to sell their shares to leaders that our economy employee pension funds un- (and their profits) would der tough rules to prevent benefit by distributing self-dealing and conflicts of their concentrated wealth interest. among a wider range of 4) Enact amendments to citizens —not by any manour Companies Act and se- datory statist programmes, curities regulations to give but simply by using accept-

ed capital markets procedures to disseminate share ownership.

One approach to our business chieftains would be the creation of a business roundtable, similar to what started in the US 30 years ago simply as three prominent corporate executives meeting with the US president, and has evolved into an influential study group led by the CEOs of most of the dominant American corporations.

Once there are more shares outstanding from more issuers, the normal steps would follow to increase liquidity — pension funds trading more actively in equities; broker-dealers conducting more research and producing more analysts’ reports; and the media doing more stories about companies and their personalities. Gradually, public awareness of investing in securities would spread, to approach the estimated 50 per cent of American households said to be involved in the stock market.

An essential sign of a vibrant, growing economy is the existence of an effective capital market, where economic democracy can grow equally with political democracy.

Richard Coulson is a retired lawyer and investment banker born in Nassau and from a long line of Bahamians. He is a financial consultant and author of A Corkscrew Life - adventures of a travelling financier.

PAGE 8, Monday, June 12, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

A Bahamian’s open tribute and expression of Gratitude to Andrew Carnegie IN an open letter to Mr Mark Laskow, who heads the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, Mr Godson “Nicodemus” Johnson, LLB, of Nassau pays tribute to the Carnegie Foundation for how it has touched his life.

Mr Laskow, Sometime back in September of last year I had determined to write what I view as my overdue letter of gratitude to the attention of your Commission. I understand that your Commission is the executive body in which Mrs Linda T Hills serves as member. I found this out after viewing an A&E Youtube broadcast titled ‘Andrew Carnegie – Prince of Steel’. Time is passing and this, my letter of gratitude, is now long overdue.

In the aforementioned documentary Mrs Hills said that “people in the United States, in one way or another, probably completely unknown to them had their lives touched by money that was earned by my great grandfather” – she mentioned Sesame Street and the fact of its funding coming from the Carnegie Foundation as an example of this. She went on to say that “in ways unknown and in wonderful ways he (Andrew Carnegie) has touched and continues to touch incredible numbers of lives in a very positive way”. I am of the latter category of persons of whom she spoke of.

Similar to Mr Andrew Carnegie, I was neither born nor am I a citizen of the United States, however, I am one of those persons whose life was profoundly touched, directed and much assisted through the generosity of that immigrant from Dunfermline, Scotland – Carnegie later became known and recognized as the crowned ‘Prince of Steel’. I, a Bahamian, do write this open letter to account for my gratitude for the life and legacy of Andrew Carnegie.

Mr Carnegie’s generosities has had and continues to have a phenomenal impact on my life. Before my experiences I had heard of Mr Carnegie but these were merely sound bites that came across the television screen way back then as a child and associated with Sesame Street. As a teenager, I found his surname to be difficult to pronounce, although it was associated with a musical hall in New York. The echoes of his generosity began to stir my curiosity as to who this ‘Carnegie’ person was and why it is he was associated

LETTERS EXTRA with so many charitable causes. Then in 1999, at a low time in my life, I found a gem of unquantifiable value amongst the trash that was on the floor of my prison cell in Fox Hill Prisons’ B-Block. It was the book written by Napoleon Hill: ‘Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude’ Initially, I was arraigned on some 28 criminal charges on which a magistrate’s preliminary inquiry would decide whether the charges should be tried in the Supreme Court. The charges stemmed from a vigilante act aimed against organised criminals operating in The Bahamas. The charges were reduced to about half, however, they were still serious charges which went on to be tried in the Supreme Court.

I view my arrest as the culmination of a downward spiral beginning from about October of 1993 until about the same time of 1997.

In this period, I had become involved with questionable characters from backgrounds which I would have been better-off to have stayed away from. Before this time, I was employed with the local telephone company. I fathered three children but headed a home inclusive of four. I was active in Church but I lacked the maturity and right attitude to deal with the social challenges that came with being a husband and father.

But nothing could prepare me for the demise that was to come. I also operated a once successful cellular phone business.

One day, I came to a firm decision to extricate (get out) from the circle of those questionable associations.

I thought that I would be applauded and perhaps rewarded for boldly turning against an organised criminal enterprise - but I was totally wrong. Nonetheless, one would have thought that I had committed mass murder or high treason because of me being denied bail continuously. The restraint caused my businesses and domestic situation to deteriorate irreparably.

I was denied the responsibility to care and provide for my children as I was accustomed to do. It placed my children in a state of tremendous hardships. Even now I find that it continues to affect aspects of our relationships.

I was subjected to harsh prison conditions and was physically beaten several times by officers and inmates. And due to the politicians associated with my case, it became evident that these beatings were meant to deter my resolve to give a truthful account in court.

Being specific to the life, legacy and generosity of Mr

ANDREW CARNEGIE, founder of the Carnegie Foundation.

Andrew Carnegie, several of its principled narratives. times I was admitted to the I then peeled away the prison hospital recovering brown paper to discover from physical attacks. Pris- its title. It was Napoleon oners were coaxed by the Hill’s ‘Success Through A prison guards to physically Positive Mental Attitude’. attack me. I learned of this I began reading it and was fact when, on one occasion, very attentive to the posithe prisoners stated their tive principles that are echreluctance to carry out the oed in the writings of Napoinstruction of the guards leon Hill. The words made who had moved to the cell up the frame of teachings with a group of violent of- which all parents ought to fenders and who then in- teach their children. structed them to assault me.

Mr Andrew Carnegie On one of these occa- initiated, propagated and sions I was released from funded Napoleon Hill’s the prison clinic and taken noble work. Not having my back to B-block where I biological father around, was placed in the cell far- I grew up mostly with exthest from the entrance of tended family members. the block. The ventilation The book was like a letter was terrible. There was no from a deceased but carcirculation of air and it was ing father who wanted me extremely hot. The cell was to know what I would othfilthier than the overall con- erwise not have been able ditions throughout the pris- to know. I then reread the on. It was full of trash and book three times through debris and there were no and through. blanket or mattress to sleep To this day, I keep referon. I was made to sleep on ring back to it and recallthe concrete floor. ing its profound teachings, One morning, I began to illustration and historical clean up the trash from off examples of men and womthe floor when I found two en who adopted and from books; the backs of which whose lives positive mental were covered with brown attitude (PMA) was epitopaper. I could not see the mize. Thanks to you Mr titles because of the cover- Andrew Carnegie. ing. For three days I just sat After reading the book there reflecting through the and visualising the many shock of what I was going fine examples of reputable through. The books, as it and successful individuals were, were used to prop my who dared to live out their head from off the floor so lives in accordance with that I could sleep better.

PMA, I determined to give When I was more emo- it a try. I took up the chaltionally settled, I tore off lenge to reflect and re-exthe brown paper from the amine the attitude by which back of the thinner of the I had been conducting my two books. It was a western life. I deducted success novel. I read it first because was more to do with ones’ it was a quick read. I then magnificent obsessions and began flipping through the less to do with monetary pages of the other book incomes or net worth. Ones when my eyes caught sight net worth is coincidental or incidental to what one achieves by fruitfully employing what God has entrusted them with.

The rhetorical question put to Moses in Mount Sinai was “what was it that he had in his hands?”. At the time, Moses was a fugitive from the law, he was wanted for murder. He sought to justify his sense of inferiority and inabilities. He relied on his

YOUR

lack of money, his felonious reputation and speech impediment. These, he thought, were why he could not and should not advocate on behalf of the Israelites for their freedom from Egyptian slavery. But the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He replied “A rod”. He was to use it! (Exodus 4:2).

In other words, we are to use what we have to make the positive difference in our communities rather than listing the illusional estimates of what we do not have. I then questioned myself as to “what is it that I had”.

The inspired reply came and said, “time”. From that day to now I began to value and use time wisely. Reading was the skill which I employed to equip me to go forward in the journey of where Hill’s PMA would take me.

However, in keeping to my expression of gratitude to Mr. Carnegie, the ‘Prince of Steel’, I will forward my account by declaring that it was through the PMA principles, which I discovered in Napoleon Hill’s book, that I soon went on to study law and graduated with an “Upper Second Class” law degree. I then use Hill’s PMA again and graduated from my Bar training as ‘Most Outstanding Student’. You would note that hither-forth, and due to attitudinal issues, I was not able to graduate from any other learning institutions as a youth. I never completed any and was put out of the last four schools before turning 17.

My tertiary education through university and post-graduate achievements were significant milestones in my life, and indeed, of more significant achievement than any other Bahamian of similar background. But instead of being received and heralded as such, I have been fought against, ridiculed, and to date, economically ostracized.

After two of three lengthy

CHOICE FOR THE FAMILY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOYFM1019

application processes of my quest to be called to The Bahamas Bar, and after experiencing the Associations’ Counsels’ negative attitudes towards me, I resolved and returned to the United Kingdom where I eventually applied for asylum.

I visited a number of libraries in England that were funded through the generosity of Andrew Carnegie, the ‘Prince of Steel’.

But it was during my stay in Middlesbrough, UK, as a refugee, that I came to directly benefit again from this wonderful man’s generosity.

I try to take out library memberships wherever I might be staying for a while. Membership in Middlesbrough Central Library was the natural thing for me to do during my asylum application. The Central Library was funded and built through the generosity of Carnegie. As a result of his generosity, I was able to read a number of helpful materials including Sigmund Freud’s work in psychology. The readings helped me, on my own, to mentally discover and pinpoint the childhood traumas which served to influence the fears in my life.

Freud books connected and drew my attention to the writings of Simon Max Nordeau. These reading materials served to give me further insights into hard but yet practical realities of life. They also served to reinvigorate me and to reenforce Hill’s PMA in me.

Your Commission should know of these phenomenal but divine interactions and how they eventually led me to Mr. Carnegie’s personally written biography of his life. I went through it at least twice. Needless to say, I was tremendously blessed; especially on hearing the firm resolve his mother took as to the life course she had envisioned for her son to take.

Grown Carnegie reflected that he had never seen his mother so full of anger and rage than the time when she rebuked his uncle for suggesting that he, young Andrew, should peddle snacks to the men working on the wharfs. He was thinking the money earned could help supplement the household income of Carnegies in the early days after their arrival in the United States. Her son, she said, was not born to be a peddler to the vulgar ruffians out on the wharf. To express it politely, she would just as well end his life by drowning him herself. Dear Mrs Carnegie was proven to be right. Eventually I came to watch A&E video biography of Andrew Carnegie – the Prince of Steel which triggered this tribute of gratitude.

Mr Laskow, it has been a hard and long journey for my children and me; however, there have been persons in this society who have encouraged us along.

It can be discouraging living in a generally xenophobic society where there is little or no consensus to encourage the reform and reintegration of ex-convicts back into right society. In fact, this is resented and fought against. But please, sir, be so kind as to see to it that the other Commission members and Staffs, and especially Mrs Linda T Hills, do get to know of my gratitude for the life, memory, legacy and generosity of her great grandfather, Mr. Andrew Carnegie. His life was meaningful and filled with purpose to help all humanity, even me, a Bahamian.

Thank you.

And notwithstanding Mr. Carnegie’s conservative views held towards religion, which I also happen to share in some degree, I thank the Lord God for His expression of Carnegie’s life.

Sincerely and with warmest regards, GODSON ANDREW JOHNSON (AKA ‘NICODEMUS’) ‘If the highest thing in you will not bring success, surely the lowest, the worst, cannot’.

Nassau, June 3, 2017.

THE TRIBUNE

The ire of two Prime Ministers O

World View

N May 29, two former Prime Ministers and leaders of opposing political parties in Antigua and Barbuda presented their nation’s parliament with one of those rare

By SIR RONALD SANDERS occasions in which in a fiery debate, they were “singing from the same hymn sheet” tinuing absence of a level playing field in the impleas the saying goes.

The occasion was the mentation of the FATF and introduction in the House OECD rules. He named of Assembly of a Bill that powerful countries that igsought to make it com- nored the rules they make pulsory for the beneficial and impose on others. And, shareholders of vehicles both former Prime Minfor financial transactions, isters thundered that the including companies and present government should Trusts, to be known and stand-up against the unregistered, and for severe fairness of the system and penalties to be applied when simply refuse to accept such information is with- dictation from the rich and held from regulatory au- powerful governments.

Sir Lester is correct that thorities. The requirement for the Bill did not arise there is one OECD country from local circumstances; it in particular that openly was a directive (euphemisti- allows company incorpocally called “a recommen- rations and Trusts with no dation”) from the Financial requirement to disclose Action Task Force (FATF) beneficial owners. The reand the Global Forum of sult is that this business has the Organisation for Eco- moved there to the detrinomic Co-operation and ment of other jurisdictions, Development (OECD), that but all are powerless to corare the creations of the rich, rect that wrong.

Forlornly, it was suggestindustrialised nations to set global rules in financial ed by the two former Prime Ministers that CARICOM matters.

The two former Prime countries should jointly reMinisters are Sir Lester sist these impositions that Bird of the Antigua and disadvantage them and renBarbuda Labour Party and der them uncompetitive in Baldwin Spencer of the the global financial system.

But, the horse has alUnited Progressive Party. Both men have wide ex- ready bolted on all of these perience of superintending matters; trying to close every aspect of their coun- the stable door now will try’s affairs. In addition to accomplish nothing exbeing Prime Ministers - ex- cept a black-listing by any courageous cept for one brief period jurisdiction during Spencer’s adminis- enough to do so. When tration - they retained the the opportunity for a solid portfolio of foreign affairs. CARICOM resistance to In this regard, they both the FATF and OECD rules had up-front and first-hand was ripe, governments knowledge of the several – failed to act in concert. In and unending – incursions beggar-thy-neighbour poliinto the sovereignty of their cies in which government nation by both the FATF of Caribbean countries sought to escape the disand the OECD. Given their experience approval of the powerful, of growing-up, resentfully, they abandoned solidarity in a colony, where all the for what they thought was major decisions about their self-preservation. So, they country were made in a dis- acquiesced to demands tant and alien metropole, it and distanced themselves is not surprising that both from each other. To be fair, men place a high value on some Caribbean governthe autonomy that they con- ments were not involved sider their country achieved at the time; they lingered at its independence from under the impression that Britain. So, the introduc- the OECD was after ‘offtion of the Bill struck a shore’ banks and internadiscordant note with them. tional business corporaOne might even say that the tions. They failed to see Bill “stuck in their craw”; the signs that, eventually, they appeared not to be “off-shore” and “on-shore” able to swallow it easily, if would be blurred.

Wider alliances with at all.

In this connection, they countries in similar circumjoined in a chorus of protest stances in the Pacific, Afri– Spencer’s belting to Bird’s ca, the Mediterranean and timbre. Neither man would even Europe, were not efhave the Bill passed; both fectively forged. As usual, saw it as an imposition by divide and rule tactics were external forces that would employed by the powerful further injure their nation’s and they were effective. financial services sector. The consequence is that, Bird pointed to the con- by unrelenting policies of

intrusion, the governments that created the OECD and FATF have managed to impose rules that now ensnare the world. The system is an effective form of control by the powerful over the weak.

In this connection, the shared ire of Sir Lester Bird and Baldwin Spencer over yet another demand by the FATF and the OECD is understandable, but futile.

Nothing short of a movement by many countries to wrest control of the rules governing the global financial system from the OECD countries and putting it where it has always properly belonged – the United Nations – can or will change the present unfair structure. Such a movement would require trust and confidence among the governments that initiate the action. It would also require political courage and non-partisan political support within countries. And the chances of all that happening are utterly remote.

The present Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, was right, therefore, when he pointed to the consequences of noncompliance with the FATF and OECD rules. Antigua and Barbuda, acting alone, would be blacklisted as “un-cooperative” and appropriate penalties would be devised. For example, the current withdrawal of correspondent banking relations by US and UK banks would intensify and be adopted by other OECD governments, crippling the country’s economy. Already several countries in the Caribbean (including Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, the six smaller Eastern Caribbean countries, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) have lost correspondent banking relations from the US and the UK. They now have to go as far as China and Turkey to settle their US and UK transactions. Subsequently, their costs of international transactions – with no guarantee of continued service in the future – has led to a rise of as much as 300 per cent.

The Antigua and Barbuda debate - with its blend of vexed idealism at impositions on the country’s sovereignty and calm realism of its vulnerability – is probably replicated throughout the Caribbean. How these

THIS WEEK IN THE TRIBUNE Today

Thursday

Business - Former MP Leslie Miller says he is “confounded” by several proposed Budget duty cuts, Neil Hartnell reports Sports - Top Bahamian athletes are competing at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica as Usain Bolt wins his final race on home soil Plus the latest properties for sale and rent in the Home Buyers’ Guide

Obituaries and Religion, a weekly review Mental Health of the Nation, by Dr Mike Neville ‘On da Hook’, a weekly look at fishing in The Bahamas

Tuesday Woman and Health - weekly advice on taking care of your mind and body and women making waves in The Bahamas The Press Box sporting thoughts of Inigo “Naughty” Zenicazelaya Wednesday Tribune Tech - a weekly look at what’s new in the world of technology Plus Alicia Wallace tackles social and political issues of the moment in The Bahamas in her Culture Clash column

Monday, June 12, 2017, PAGE 9

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BALDWIN Spencer. small states will survive in a global society, where power prevails over principle, will increasingly become the question of this century for their political leaders, busi-

Photo: Fernanda LeMarie/Cancillería del Ecuador. nessmen, diplomats, academics and journalists.

• Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com

The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and High Commissioner to Canada. The views expressed are his own.

0 PAGE MONDAY, MAY 22, PAGE10, 10,Monday, Monday, January 23, 2017 June 12, 2017 2017

WEEK IN RIBUNE

day - Supervalue rt Roberts is overnment to VAT policy rertnell reports e Bahamas nachampionships or The Bahay; plus Fourth s. latest properand rent in the s’ Guide

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

GAIN AN EDGE A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

A prescription for Why diversified Dual a brighterisfuture education key role for to social equity High R

THE TRIBUNE THE TRIBUNE

GAIN AN EDG

A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON HIGHER EDUCATI

sday “THE past two years nd Health ce on taking have flown by. Even now mind and body that I’m about to graduate, making waves the fact that I’ve been able to attend university at all as Box sporting seems surreal,” says StephInigo “Naugh- anie Stubbs, who will soon have her Associate’s Deaya OCHELLE Failure to have both gree in Medical Laboratory Smith had Technology from Keiser TVET and traditional nesday prayed long and University in Florida. ch - a weeklyhard about what academics available in of 39 Ly’s she newwanted in the to doStephanie with heris one allwho school ford Cay Scholars will programmes nology life.

Stephanie’s ultimate goal graduate this year join believed Smith’s is aand disservice to in her potential She forthwas in the 11th grade enough to invest in her. It is to return to The Bahamas the thousands of Scholars Calland column a decision regarding the our children and who been able to com- was the boost she needed to and partner with an estabtrajectory of her lifehave needed believe in herself and pur- lished laboratory company country, says Remiska plete theirin-college educarsday to be made. She would sue her own to expand its business to intion either locally or interand Religion, Wildgoose, English dreams. form her mother tonight. is convinced clude more diverse medical nationallyapover instructor the past 45 at Stephanie ew As she reluctantly BTVI that college has unlocked a technology services. Her through ook’, a weekly proached Mrs years Smith, she the generos- whole new world for her and hope is that her training ity of donors to the Lyford ng could in The BaTVET is a first option for out.a path sense the exhaustion. school does not setwork her on towards will help the country closer Cay Foundations. some is an important step as a society, Mrs Smith worked hard - Unfortunately, success.

She has used every provide a wider array of towards progression. The we road place to whitemoment collar jobs both parents did,Although for they the of her Associate’s medical laboratory services graduation has not an day that is talented with on abeen pedestal.

Our educa- to child wanted the best for their programme explore all locally without having to Peet (left) and Antonique Sullivan (right) with BTVI instructor Monique A. Marshall ANATOL Rodgers School student Miriam al- separates a 28-page their hands is justHigh as inteltionalhas system the children.sec- easy one, Stephanie aspects of the little-known send thetomore complexclass lab- during the dual enrollment program in spring 2017. during an Introduction cosmetology Photos: Shantique Longley ways kept her focus on the to the best in ligent as the child who as“Mummy, I’ve made a de- students with “great field ofpotenmedical technology. oratories abroad for testing. graduating fashion, pires to pursue medicine. and for those students cision. food, I want toshining do hair prize and -tial”, “It’s an exciting field that She also hopes to spread the to either Trade rolment programme? a globally-com12th graders helper in any of those diswith a college BTVI’s degree that tainment, Dean of Construction Social equity begins with we give our best. nails.”N garallows you to make sure word at home about the imIt is 15 weeks, meeting ciplines. petitive work enCareer Path or Introducenable toHowever, make a countries such us, for the carpenter and al matters, Vexed, fit-Mrswill Smith re-herTrades and Workforce, that doctors areAlexander giving their portance of this critical vironment, tion tofield.

Cosmetology. The once or twice per week, difference in The andplied, interviews the doctor both end up conas Bahamas Finland, whose educa“Girl you crazy The aye! patients the right diagno“College has allowed me the Darville, shares information and Bahamas TechniIntroduction to Cosme- depending on the arrangeWhat is your vision for through medical technology.

View Naughtributing to the society as a rivals most, All- that money we plunk- tional system sis through testing,” she chance to really look toward ment with the school, for cal Institology topics include hair BTVI’s dual enrolment so many aspiring take on toVocational the whole.

Thus, failure to have shows that 45 per cent of ing and out put youLike in private answers questions aboutknows the that the future and seek out opsaid. Stephanie tute (BTVI) is you moving analysis, beauty culture a total of eight hours per programme?

Stephanie’s first Bahamas both TVET and traditional students choose a technical school and you students, say wan’ programme, which there are many portunities wherescience I couldn’t hurdle the road to although with its oninstitution’s and communicable week.

I want to see the prohefull Finish Line,ahead academics available in all track as opposed to the tra- physicians do steam what?!

Girlmajor you better well-trained in see them before,”diseases, said Stepha college education was fito simultaneously while in the Trade gramme include 11th gradwas reintroduced in 2015. e thrust local sports school programmes is truly What get out my face and pray ditional academics*.

Bahamas, there is a anie. “This opportunity nancial.

“I can still remem-whoThe Which schools have par- ers, giving them an early high students.

Career was Path classes, the ntenrol Stubbs a disservice to our children if Joshua, can need take for a equally about whatschool to do with your great well- the just the first rung on a very ber the moment that I found The dual enrolment proare introduced to ticipated since the re-intro- start to college-level credpathways through postportunity to channel their students and ultimately our country. car apart and put it back life!” trained healthcare technol- tall ladder. I planthe to continue I was awarded a scholurday gramme is a out collaborafundamentals of several duction? its. Also, I want more high secondary while simulAt thisskills, pivotal moment, together, oreducation.

Gabrielle, who practical Rochelle retreated, ogy professionals. to climb and I’m going to con- trades includarship from The Foundaune’s Top 5: Anatol Rodgers High tive effort between high construction schools, including those there is no simplecredits. answerIt taneously gaining artwork heartbroken, despond- can paint nails like After graduation, Steph- tinue my education any tions,” she reflected. was deo review of determined C. I. Gibson Senior High throughout the Family Isschools BTVI. The ing: by Electrical Installation, to solve our social and ecois the anie dualthe enrolalso prepares them for enonWhat a “I canvass, had opent, but and was to to pursue a means possible.” Plumbing, Carpentry, Drystunned!

Just moments be-early on plans op storiesherby mother C. V. Bethel Senior High Southern Association lands, taking part in the nomic ills.institution.

Nevertheless, portunity to bedegree make proud. ment programme? try into the Bachelor’s in bio• “Gain An wall, Edge”Tiling is a and in some infore I learned that I’d been gil on www. long L. W. Young Junior High programme. To facilitate ofShe Colleges and and Schools one of our answers lies in as a dual success for who prayed hard seen BTVI’s enrolment logical sciences or clinical weekly collaboration of a scholarship, I was om Programme SURE (Suc- this opportunity on the is(SACS) believes institustances Painting and Decoplacing diversified educathey are, as opposed to She the and decided to awarded pursue medprogramme is biology. a vessel to will What courses are of- Cay also do the Lyford Foundacontemplating calling the in The Tribtion at the forefront. All cess Ultimately Reassures lands, we would engage the tions rating. expectations society icine.should provide struc- jump-start highthat school stufered? study to become a tions, Bahamas Technical college to tell dents them thatonto I further usiness, sports, especially deEveryone), which is a Min- subject matter expert in the tures student acceleraprojects them?

For countries, Asfor Bahamians, we know into technical educaPresently, the Vocational procertified specialist in hema- and Institute wouldn’t be coming because d tion, Classifieds veloping introduces countries, mainly need istry of Education pro- schools, further educatstudents like them these, techcreating successful How long is the dual enthis story all too well. We tion, providing the opgramme tology and microbiology. and University of The Bacouldn’t best to I justthe balanced development nical it.” vocational education giveguide our children best afford gramme designed for trou- ing and training them – a This combination of trainhamas aimed at promotForwe have Stephanie, being e, education real estate, through all of the educaand training (TVET) is because bled male students. train the trainers – on how ing will allow her the versa- ing a national dialogue on scholarship andhopes more.that theyawarded tional sectors in order to choice. tility to pursue career will becomea first to deliver trade career path fields higher education.

To share REMISKA WILDGOOSE meant that ingdoctors news and make significant progress Whilepeotherethatare still and lawyers.

Car-there were How does the proetc. range from pathology your thoughts, email gain- STEPHANIE STUBBS, Keiser University Graduate and courses, Lyford Cay ple out there, with needed her your mobilein terms of national devel- and look to 2027, when our well-diversified changes topublic be made penters and massage ther- along gramme connect to the duceBesides that, I want stueducational instantaneous results, to and allied health. anedge@tribunemedia.net. scholar. family, who ne242.com (Bennell,1996). educational system pro- system our educational system, opment apists should own only supportive be the in workforce? their parents, faculty is one small but sig- it dents, is an alternative that will alternative when medical embracing the fact that We must see beyond 2017 duces more than enough nificant BTVI’s enrolment and staff of the highdifferschools step dual towards long- make a tremendous programme serves as a di- ence. to see the programme as adeconomic prosperity qualified, visionary citizens term and not aatsecond ourfeeder nation.for certain trade vantageous who could build a world inrect For many students the areas. also helps BTVI to Bahamas choice. InTechnical fact, when and some WhileItfurther investment class resort that would rival project our numbers as to Vocational of these same students apply developing our educamost. Implementing TVET into Institute, TVET how many are is for technical scholarships systemstudents may notwe proprogrammes and having a tional their only choice because to expecting to produce for it attend they would is whatcollege they love.

As lead-be industry. able to present ers, teachers, and themselves parents, There is a misconception it as having already is incumbent that weattained conabout technical education tinue college-level credits, to embrace TVETwhile as throughout the country; anproving thatatthey can so balalternative all levels however, it is a necessary allance high school and colindividuals can become component of the labour valuable lege-level work. contributing memforce. If you could flip a bers of society. light switch on, thank a Stories What like has that beenofa Rohighwhose name has technical person. When chelle, light for you, personally? for the pruyou put your feet on a tile, beenIt changed has been rewarding of athis article, are thank a technical person. pose to see few students from too common.

LikeafThat brand new Honda you much the programme return others,high medical just bought, thank a tech- sotermany completing school, did not work out.

In nical person. We don’t see school having already received she still pursued it until after things aren’t the theend, fundamentals of a skill. she loved - beauty working, but if you have to what Moreover, it thrilled me to live a life absent of techni- trades. see self-worth evident, parcal people, you’d under- ticularly in the boys, who Sources stand. may have entered the pro*Mark Phillips gramme needing (2012). someone should in we them. care about How do you measure the Why to believe This is Education? success of the enrolment Vocational how we change lives. **Bennell, P (1996). programme? vocational The first indication of General versus “Gain an Edge” is a education in of de-the success is when students secondary weekly collaboration country: A review complete the initial 15 veloping Lyford Cay Foundations, of return evidence. weeks. Secondly, when of rates Bahamas Technical and Journal of Institute Developthey return and enrol The Vocational and Studies. of The Bahafor further education, it ment University An Edge” is a a speaks volumes to what we “Gain mas aimed at promoting weekly collaboration of are doing. But, even if they national dialogue on higher Lyford Cay Foundadon’t return, they have the education.

To share your tions, Bahamas Technical been exposed to the trade thoughts, email gainand Vocational Institute and can at least work as a anedge@tribunemedia.net. and University of The Bahamas aimed at promoting a national dialogue on higher education. To share TECHNICAL vocational education and training is important to your thoughts, email gainanedge@tribunemedia.net. help students, says Remiska Wildgoose.

School

students I

A Lyford Cay Foundations scholar aims to serve through medical technology

PAGE 12, Monday, June 12, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

ROBBINETTE THOMPSON, 63, of St Alban’s Drive, charged with attempted murder.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

WOMAN ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR THROWING CORROSIVE ON HUSBAND A 63-YEAR-OLD woman was arraigned on an attempted murder charge on Friday after allegedly throwing a corrosive substance on her husband during an argument.

Robbinette Thompson, of St Alban’s Drive, stood before Chief Magistrate Joyanne Ferguson-Pratt facing one count of attempted murder for throwing acid on her husband, William Thompson, between June 3 and 4 which left him in critical condition in hospital.

According to an initial report from police, a wom-

an and her husband were involved in an argument at their home at St Alban’s Drive that led to her throwing a corrosive substance on him. Mr Thompson was rushed to hospital where his condition was listed as critical. His wife was later taken into custody.

Thompson was not required to plead to the charge and was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until July 19 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment.

However, a status hearing is set for June 23.

GN-1906

Ministry Of National Security Parliamentary Department

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION

PAGE 14, Monday, June 12, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

‘Save the Bays handling will be test of commitment to transparency’ from page one and if so, to explain the nature of the contribution and whether it constituted a conflict of interest.

Mr Munroe added that the test applied to matters concerning affiliated groups like the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, of which many STB directors also hold executive posts.

“I don’t know that (Attorney General) Carl Bethel is conflicted,” he said, “persons around the Cabinet table would be conflicted. Since we talk about transparency it would have to be clear that they don’t participate in any deliberations, and they would have declared interests if they benefited from contributions. The FNM ought to say whether it benefited

from a contribution.

“If I got a contribution I should then say the basis of which I do not feel that I’m conflicted by having this contribution. It’s a very important early test for the government if they’re going to be transparent. It can be simple, yes we got a contribution but no it’s not a conflict and this is why.

He added: “The question is are they going to do that.

I doubt that they will. It’s the first test, I don’t know whether it conflicts them but if they’re talking about they’re going to be doing everything out in the open.”

The environmental group has four sets of judicial review proceedings in relation to alleged unauthorised construction and Crown land reclamation activities of Lyford Cay fashion mogul Peter Nygard at Nygard Cay, and the failure of the

government to take appropriate action, including the prime minister, deputy prime minister, the Town Planning Committee, the director of physical planning and others.

Marathon MP and Minister of Environment Romauld Ferreira previously served as a director for Save The Bays, and stepped down from the post ahead of the general election, according to Fred Smith, STB legal director.

Mr Ferreira is a plaintiff in the murder-for-hire lawsuit filed last year against Mr Nygard and his lawyer, Keod Smith, by four Save The Bays (STB) directors, including Joseph Darville, Mr Smith and Louis Bacon.

Reverend CB Moss, who is not a part of STB, is also a plaintiff.

In March last year, Mr Ferreira stated that he was

not being financially compensated in his capacity as a director with the environmental group, adding that any earnings from STB came as a result of legal work done for the organisation.

At that time, Mr Ferreira said as far as he knew, none of the organisation’s directors were receiving salaries for their posts.

Mr Ferreira did not respond to requests for comment up to press time.

Mr Smith told The Tribune yesterday that he had not yet reached out to the new government concerning ongoing litigation in a bid to allow incoming ministers - who are now defendants - to familiarise themselves with the matters.

He added that he had not spoken to Mr Ferreira concerning the private murderfor-hire lawsuit.

“I am optimistic that with

a sensible and transparent new administration, that is committed to the rule of law,” Mr Smith said, “that we will be able to engage in discussions that will protect environmental rights and also uphold the laws passed

by Parliament.”

When asked whether the group would drop litigation if negotiations began with the government in good faith, Mr Smith said: “The cases are too complicated to simply say they can be dropped.”

Mr Smith continued: “I am very hopeful that with the prime minister’s expression that his government is committed to the rule of law that we will be able to have sensible and constructive dialogue with the government on many of the issues raised by the judicial reviews.

“There obviously will

MARVIN EDGECOMBE, 43, of Snug Corner Acklins, who is charged with murder.

be cost issues involved in each of the cases but much of the costs in the judicial reviews has arisen because of Nygard and Keod Smith and the (former) prime minister’s recusal and bias motions and then their appeals so these cases could have been resolved years ago if not for the breach of the injunctions, the bias applications, the appeals of the bias applications.”

In April, Mr Smith stated that he donated an undisclosed amount of money to the FNM. He was responding to claims made by former Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell at a campaign rally.

At the time, FNM chairman Sidney Collie said there was nothing “unusual” about Mr Smith’s admission as he was a “card carrying member of the FNM.”

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

ACKLINS MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER OF FELLOW ISLANDER

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net A 43-YEAR-OLD Acklins resident was arraigned in Magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of another Acklins

resident following multiple arguments between both men over the recent holiday weekend.

Marvin Edgecombe, of Snug Corner, Acklins, stood before Magistrate Andrew Forbes facing a murder charge for allegedly

killing 47-year-old David Alexander Hanna.

Hanna was previously identified as the individual who was found dead outside his home in Acklins on the morning of Sunday June 4, hours after he was treated and released from the local clinic

for multiple stab wounds.

According to police, Hanna was involved in an argument with a suspect on the morning of Saturday, June 3, at Mason’s Bay and then a second argument later in the evening which led to the suspect being hit with a bottle and Hanna

being stabbed.

Hanna was later found dead outside his home in Delectable Bay at around 8.30am the next day, police said last week.

On Friday, Edgecombe was informed by Magistrate Forbes that he was

not required to plead to the charge, as the matter would be adjourned to October 11 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment. He was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDCS) until then.

BAHAMIAN ACCUSED IN BOMB CASE GRANTED BAIL

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MAY WAS CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. Us TOO Bahamas Chapter, Prostate Cancer Education & Support Network, was Chartered 1st May, 2001, by Us TOO International, Inc., Downers Grove, Illinois, USA. Regular meetings are held 6:30 p.m. 3rd Thursdays at the Cancer Society's Headquarters. Officers include: Chapter Leader, Wendell Barry; Deputy, Lenneth Brozozog; Treasurer, Spencer Poitier; Secretary, Lavade Darling; Chaplin, Jack Sturrup; Almoners: Kenneth Bethell & Reginald Wells; Public Relations: Z.Wilshire Bethell, Hubert Pratt & Alfred Rolle. Education & Support is the Chapter's mandate. Membership is free. ALL MEN - JOIN US!. The prostate is most essential to procreation. Prostate cancer, is a life-threatening disease. Us TOO is always available for discussion - individual or groups. Tel. 325-0823 or 465-2235 E-mail: barrywendell@yahoo.com

FORMER St Andrews School student and US National Guard member Brandon Russell, who is an alleged neo-Nazi bombmaker, was granted bond in a US federal court on Friday.

According to reports, Russell will be staying at an Orlando home as he awaits trial on explosives charges.

Prosecutors had argued

that Russell was a flight risk at a hearing last Thursday, however, federal judge Thomas McCoun granted the bond stating there was no clear and convincing evidence that the accused represented a threat to any person or the community.

Russell was arrested on explosives and weapons charges in the United States on May 2.

His arrest follows the double homicide of his roommates Andrew Oneschuk, 18, and Jeremy Him-

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

melman, 22, who were shot to death by another roommate, Devon Arthurs, in their apartment on May 19.

Arthurs confessed to killing the men because they disrespected his Muslim faith, and according to the federal complaint, further claimed that Russell previously “threatened to kill people and bomb infrastructure” in neo-Nazi online chat rooms.

Russell reportedly found the bodies of his slain roommates when he returned home from National Guard duty that same day.

Authorities told the court on Thursday that Russell told officers he planned to go see his father, a sheriff’s deputy in Palm Beach County, Florida, after making the gruesome discovery.

However, authorities said he instead drove south to the Florida Keys with a friend after the pair purchased two rifles and ammunition.

PAGE 16, Monday, June 12, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

BTC SPONSORS ALL ANDROS CRAB FEST COMMITTEE BTC has donated $20,000 to the All Andros Crab Fest Committee in support of the group’s annual cultural event.

BTC has been a proud partner of the event for several years.

“BTC is a great corporate citizen and we continue to partner with organisations that promote culture, education and community involvement. We’ve been partners with the committee for many years, so it was

CELEBRATE YOUR EXTRAORDINARY DAD THIS FATHER’S DAY. Spend precious moments with Dad and enjoy a delicious dinner Sunday, June 18th | 5:00 PM Indulge in a four course dinner at 3 Tides Restaurant followed by a flight of three rums presenta�on and cigar rolling at Churchill Lounge & Bar ($55 + per person) Reserva�ons required 242.788.7376 GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR One Baha Mar Boulevard

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a natural fit to lend our support again,” a BTC spokesman said.

BTC’s set-up at the event will include a pop up shop in which festival participants will be able to top up their phones and also have the opportunity to buy a phone. Organisers estimate a turnout of over 10,000 Bahamians and visitors over the three-day period.

The festival will take place at Queen’s Park in Fresh Creek from June 15-17.

BTC CEO Leon Williams.